Kind of creepy but not in a fun way.
2 stars
This book simply doesn't align with anything I hear from wiccans today. It feels antiquated in all the wrong ways. The Wiccans I have met have been perfectly ordinary charming people. Even if the faith is uncommon, Wiccans love their families, hate cruelty, and enjoy a good parking space.
I was fine letting a lot of stuff slide with this book. Doing rituals "skyclad"? Fine. Divination? Go for it. Claiming to know what a hidden pagan European religion did without any citation (aside from his own books)? That only somewhat upsets me.
Then, about halfway through, we get into "medicines." Of course, remedies have their place and learning about them is great. If you want that to be part of your religious practice, that's awesome. The world always needs more caregivers!
It is duplicitous and wildly irresponsible, however, to 1. Claim that these old remedies are being replicated by modern …
This book simply doesn't align with anything I hear from wiccans today. It feels antiquated in all the wrong ways. The Wiccans I have met have been perfectly ordinary charming people. Even if the faith is uncommon, Wiccans love their families, hate cruelty, and enjoy a good parking space.
I was fine letting a lot of stuff slide with this book. Doing rituals "skyclad"? Fine. Divination? Go for it. Claiming to know what a hidden pagan European religion did without any citation (aside from his own books)? That only somewhat upsets me.
Then, about halfway through, we get into "medicines." Of course, remedies have their place and learning about them is great. If you want that to be part of your religious practice, that's awesome. The world always needs more caregivers!
It is duplicitous and wildly irresponsible, however, to 1. Claim that these old remedies are being replicated by modern medicine - the implication being they can replace modern medicine. 2. Claim that any remedy without a medical study behind it can cure deadly illness. There are a couple of times where he steps right up to the cancer line. He doesn't quite claim it, but he gets close.
After that, I was pretty over this book, but it had one last crime to commit. This man straight up compares burning a witch in effigy at Halloween to people making light of The Holocaust.
